The Initial Hook - Motivating PC's
- Thread starter TarionzCousin
- Start date
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
Keep in mind the 7 basic "conflicts" of storytelling...Put another way, I think, any of these could be transposed into the RPG world as the ever elusive "hooks."
Character (i.e."the Party") v. Self
Character v. Character
Character v. Society
Character v. Nature
Character v. the Supernatural
Character v. Destiny (a.k.a. "Fate v. Freewill")
That said, I think your "range" of "near-min"=Hired by NPC and "near-max"=personal connection to an NPC is a bit limiting.
1. "Help Wanted" a.k.a. "Hired by NPC to do a job." It's simple, clean, and can get you into as easy or complex an adventure/campaign as you like.
These sorts of hooks can be anything from the "destitute farmer" calling for aid to the mayor looking for some added "muscle" since the town guard can't be spared to the ever-popular (and possibly most generic) wealthy and most likely "mysterious" stranger/artistocrat/merchant/local wizard looking for some help with an "errand", protection/defense, or to take on something "under the radar" of the local gendarme.
2. "PC Phone Home": I don't know that "wanting revenge" would really be the "near-max" for me. That falls somewhere in the middle, I'd say. It would fall under the umbrella of the "More Personal PC Connection" hook...which could very easily be in conjunction with #1...except instead of answering a bulletin for the town or meeting some stranger in an inn it is an NPC with a closer connection to a (or multiple) PC: family member, mentor/teacher, childhood friend, past (or current) romantic interest.
These are all sorts of the same "hook." Motivations could be love, jealousy, ego/pride (up to and including hubris), "familial obligation", revenge, etc. etc. across the spectrum of human(oid) emotion. So I wouldn't necessarily say it is the "max" of hooks...if "max"=PC emotional resonance or personal connection, then perhaps.
3. "Park Ranger": There's a fell beast tearing up the countryside. The UberGreen Forest has turned Red. The river has become tainted. Last night, the crops all uprooted themselves and walked away. The Livestock have taken over Joe Overalls farm and are revolting against the rest of the village. Handle it! This leads to the investigation...Where'd it come from? Why's it there? Is it actually evil/out to destroy everyone or just migrating? Protecting its territory? Its young? Is it wounded/acting out of pain? (Lion with a thorn in it's paw, anyone?)
This doesn't rely on hooks 1 or 2, though certainly could be a task set forth by an NPC. But it doesn't have to be. The party comes across the creature, forest, field, river, etc...on their own or sees some damage/death it has wrought and decides to seek out the cause/a solution.
4. "You're Off to See the Wizard": The party needs to get from town A to city B because <insert potential plot device here>. The reason they have to go can be anything and is actually secondary (if not completely irrelevant) to the adventure.
The "plot" is actually the story that happens en route....But the HOOK that gets them on the road in the first place is having to get to B.
5. "Here They Come to Save the Day": This could be as local as "rescue the princess from the evil baron before the ritual" to as encompassing as "find the artifact/slay the god before the multiverse unravels" or...ya know..."Destroy the One Ring."
If you have a party of "would-be heroes" and "do-gooders" then in whatever fashion you like and can be as personal as a prophetic poetry of one PCs destiny to a long series of adventures to find the clues themselves, whatever...tell them: "Apocalypse. Next Tuesday. Unless you can..."
Actually, this works better WITHOUT a timetable to begin with...then, about half way through, maybe even by their own actions, you introduce/throw it at them that "Oh yeah. Did I mention, that Apocalypse now looks like it'll happen next Tuesday." PC's LOVE that!
If that doesn't hook them...then I dunno what will...I guess this is what I would consider the "max" for plot hooks...since there's really not a lot else going on if the world comes to an end.
Ummm...I think that's all I have for now.
Have fun and happy hooking...
wait, that doesn't sound quite right.--Steel Dragons
Haltherrion
First Post
That's an interesting thought to help the players who struggle with a background. Most of my players know what to do and do a nice job at it but one of them might benefit from some more structure.
The dirty little secret I have in my campaigns? I don't actually need everyone to have a good background. Between the in-game hooks the players swallow and even 1-2 good backgrounds, there is typically more than enough to sustain a campaign. Four or five excellent backgrounds demanding some attention as a reward could really clutter a campaign up.
So, while I ask everyone to prepare a background, if I just get a couple that I can tie into the campaign, it's fine with me. More than that is hard to use anyway.
I still like to see backgrounds that help define the character and set their motivations but they don't all have to give us something to do in the game itself.
When I'm the DM, it is not my adventure. It is the players' adventure.
When I'm a player, motivations arise as in real life -- only in different situations.
The big exception is the occasional session of 4e "Living Forgotten Realms". In that case, I'm jumping through the hoops of Scenario X simply because it's that or nothing, and I'm using Character A or B because that's what I've got of appropriate level.
When I'm a player, motivations arise as in real life -- only in different situations.
The big exception is the occasional session of 4e "Living Forgotten Realms". In that case, I'm jumping through the hoops of Scenario X simply because it's that or nothing, and I'm using Character A or B because that's what I've got of appropriate level.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
Yeah, it is. I wasn't trying to be comprehensive, just give a couple examples at opposite ends of the spectrum. Your post contains several good examples of other options.
I agree. I have seven players now, and I inherited them at 13th level. That many extensive backgrounds might not work well together.
But I like to have the option and I want to get every player involved. So I try to pull from every character if I can.
These are two separate issues.TarionzCousin said:
"It is the players' adventure" makes a critical, fundamental difference in who is choosing what the player-characters will undertake: with which events they will choose to interact further, and how. The only difference it might make in "creating events that resonate" is an incentive to create a more target-rich environment.
An ongoing campaign is not a tabula rasa. There are already existing relationships constantly evolving naturally in play. Actions elicit reactions from friends and enemies alike.
So, I would say that the amount of effort I put in as DM to "motivating PCs" is most of the effort I put in at all. Most of what I am doing is working out the consequences of their actions, and those in turn inform their further actions.
kitsune9
Adventurer
I don't have to put in too much effort for my players to "bite", because they are not the type of players who will hear the hook and then want to go do something different.
So usually, when I introduce the hook, it's more the railroad approach.
NPC A comes to the PC's for help or a situation unfolds where the PC's get in a fight and help out. The opening box text becomes the hook and adventure.
So usually, when I introduce the hook, it's more the railroad approach.
NPC A comes to the PC's for help or a situation unfolds where the PC's get in a fight and help out. The opening box text becomes the hook and adventure.
Cyronax
Explorer
For my current campaign, I had planned it as a sandbox Points of Light-style world, but the party would be united by a strong overarching theme which gave them direction.
The strong theme was that I gave each 1st level player character the option of designing an 11th - 14th paragon tier item -- called a 'regalia item' -- that would be tied to their character somehow. For both characters, their regalia item, and the setting I provided only the following barest guideline:
- campaign will be Points of Light and a sandbox.
- the age of splendors died in a fiery Ragnarokk three hundred years ago. Only three good gods survive. The other gods sacrificed themselves to save Midgard from the final twilight of the gods. The surviving caretaker gods are Sehanine (Freyja), Erathis (Frigga), and the Raven Queen (Hel); the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. The world was loosely Norse-themed, but I told them not to let that stop their creativity.
- the PC's regalia items probably come from some long dead hero who died in the earlier age of glory (possibly facing down the forces of Ragnarokk).
- their characters didn't know each other.
- they wouldn't start the campaign with their regalia items nor would their character know about the regalia, but the regalia items would be a perfect match for them because of fate/destiny.
I then required each player to write a one-page background about their PC and then a one-page background about their regalia item.
Once I started receiving the two backgrounds from four of my five players (one player was lazy), I took the results and used all of their ideas to start building a sandbox.
So far the strong theme has worked really well, and I haven't had much in the way of railroading. I have had several 'events' occur, but those were often based on the response to actions taken by the players. Ironically, a few of my players expressed desires for me to tone down the 'sandbox' and as a DM to provide more direction for their characters. (using powerful NPCs or clear cut paths)
The PCs all united together into a formal adventure group because they all realized that their regalia items tied them together through 'destiny.' What was interesting was the the PC's themselves forged the 'destiny' idea. I had intended to not be a Fated DM.
Campaign's up to 13th level now, having started in September 2009, and still going strong. This campaign is actually the longest continuous and highest level campaign I've run from beginning level in my life.
::knocks on wood::
C.I.D.
The strong theme was that I gave each 1st level player character the option of designing an 11th - 14th paragon tier item -- called a 'regalia item' -- that would be tied to their character somehow. For both characters, their regalia item, and the setting I provided only the following barest guideline:
- campaign will be Points of Light and a sandbox.
- the age of splendors died in a fiery Ragnarokk three hundred years ago. Only three good gods survive. The other gods sacrificed themselves to save Midgard from the final twilight of the gods. The surviving caretaker gods are Sehanine (Freyja), Erathis (Frigga), and the Raven Queen (Hel); the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. The world was loosely Norse-themed, but I told them not to let that stop their creativity.
- the PC's regalia items probably come from some long dead hero who died in the earlier age of glory (possibly facing down the forces of Ragnarokk).
- their characters didn't know each other.
- they wouldn't start the campaign with their regalia items nor would their character know about the regalia, but the regalia items would be a perfect match for them because of fate/destiny.
I then required each player to write a one-page background about their PC and then a one-page background about their regalia item.
Once I started receiving the two backgrounds from four of my five players (one player was lazy), I took the results and used all of their ideas to start building a sandbox.
So far the strong theme has worked really well, and I haven't had much in the way of railroading. I have had several 'events' occur, but those were often based on the response to actions taken by the players. Ironically, a few of my players expressed desires for me to tone down the 'sandbox' and as a DM to provide more direction for their characters. (using powerful NPCs or clear cut paths)
The PCs all united together into a formal adventure group because they all realized that their regalia items tied them together through 'destiny.' What was interesting was the the PC's themselves forged the 'destiny' idea. I had intended to not be a Fated DM.
Campaign's up to 13th level now, having started in September 2009, and still going strong. This campaign is actually the longest continuous and highest level campaign I've run from beginning level in my life.
::knocks on wood::
C.I.D.
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invokethehojo
First Post
I once rand a campaign in 2e in the red steel setting. The entire land was affected by a curse, this is part of the published setting, and in the book it described how this curse came about, a three fold thing involving multiple gods and a forgotten race. It gave a very brief idea of how a campaign to end the curse might unfold.
I wrote up such a campaign, long and epic as it was. I decided the characters would need to be well developed for such an epic thing, lest they seem boring compared to the NPC's. So I ran a 5 hour one-on-one intro session for each of the six characters. It was awesome, but I was in highschool and had that kind of time.
That is max to the max.
I wrote up such a campaign, long and epic as it was. I decided the characters would need to be well developed for such an epic thing, lest they seem boring compared to the NPC's. So I ran a 5 hour one-on-one intro session for each of the six characters. It was awesome, but I was in highschool and had that kind of time.
That is max to the max.
Barastrondo
First Post
I forget who said it, but the phrase was a good one: "A character sheet is a list of things that players may or may not want to see in a game." The idea is that every choice that players make in putting together their characters emphasizes what they are interested in. Now, admittedly sometimes you have to read between the lines: a very high Will may mean that the player's interested in playing a strong-willed character with a lot of purpose, but it also may mean that the player hates having a character be mind-controlled and will do whatever it takes to avoid that.
For my part, I find that most of the initial hooks come out of discussing a new campaign in the first place. If the players want to do a D&D game inspired by classic old-school dungeons, everyone expects the old goal of "get rich or die trying" to be near-universal. But if they're voting for a swashbuckler in the vein of Brust's Phoenix Guards and Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, then more romantic motivations for PCs may be coming into play. Meaning "romantic" in the general sense, not necessarily in the relationship sense, mind; a vendetta, for instance, is classic romantic swashbuckling.
This process has gotten more important over time. I play with people from a wide variety of gaming backgrounds, as one would expect at a game company, so right now there's not even close to a dominant expectation of what, say, a D&D game might be like. When you add in variables like some players being in meetings all day and more in the mood to have me actively throw plots at them than to seek them out, it's impossible to have a single method that will work in all cases. So that initial discussion really helps me figure out what any given group's going to do on their own, and what they'd like as active content they can react to.
For my part, I find that most of the initial hooks come out of discussing a new campaign in the first place. If the players want to do a D&D game inspired by classic old-school dungeons, everyone expects the old goal of "get rich or die trying" to be near-universal. But if they're voting for a swashbuckler in the vein of Brust's Phoenix Guards and Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, then more romantic motivations for PCs may be coming into play. Meaning "romantic" in the general sense, not necessarily in the relationship sense, mind; a vendetta, for instance, is classic romantic swashbuckling.
This process has gotten more important over time. I play with people from a wide variety of gaming backgrounds, as one would expect at a game company, so right now there's not even close to a dominant expectation of what, say, a D&D game might be like. When you add in variables like some players being in meetings all day and more in the mood to have me actively throw plots at them than to seek them out, it's impossible to have a single method that will work in all cases. So that initial discussion really helps me figure out what any given group's going to do on their own, and what they'd like as active content they can react to.
